The Taxman Is Coming For Online Shoppers

Support is building for a new law that would make online
shopping more expensive. Online retailers do not collect state
and local sales taxes unless they have a physical presence in the
buyer's state.

And, even though 45 states require it, most consumers do not pay
when they file their tax return.

With state and local governments strapped for cash, and
brick-and-mortar businesses undercut by the lower prices of their
online competitors, three Internet sales tax bills are working
their way through Congress.

Todd Lard, of the Council on State Taxation, recently told
a Bloomberg BNA tax roundtable that
Congress has "gone further than they have in a number of years in
terms of getting a legislative solution."

Amazon -- the nation's biggest online
retailer -- apparently sees the handwriting on the wall. It has
agreed to build warehouses in a number of states and will
eventually collect taxes from customers in those
jurisdictions.

Experts expect the new warehouses could allow the company
to offer same-day delivery -- opening a whole new front in its
battle with brick-and-mortar businesses.